The present invention relates to purchasing configured photographic film products and, more particularly, to using the Internet or other electronic network for the purchase of such configured photographic film products.
Digital cameras, film cameras, printers, and other imaging devices can be purchased in stores or over the Internet from the Eastman Kodak Company at kodak.com or other web sites. The web site may provide text, pictures, and even animated graphics describing and comparing various product models. However, the same standard product, (defined by the stock keeping unit (SKU), is shipped to everyone who decides to buy that particular product.
Some products (such as golf shirts) that can be ordered over the Internet, or via phone or the U.S. mail service, can be ordered in a particular color with a personalized monogram or name. In this case, the letters of the monogram/name are sent to the location where the shirt is personalized, where the letters are manually loaded into a sewing machine that physically stitches the monogram into the shirt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,411 discloses an arrangement for ordering merchandise over the Internet. Computers can also be ordered over the Internet. See, for example, the Dell computer Internet site at www.dell.com. Using this site, different configurations of a Dell computer can be purchased. The customer can buy a xe2x80x9cstandardxe2x80x9d configuration of a particular model computer, or can instead select (using pull-down menus) various options. A xe2x80x9clearn morexe2x80x9d link next to each option enables the user to understand the differences between these options in order to select the most appropriate option. Prior art patents related to customizing computer systems include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,894,571, 5,995,757 and 5,991,543, and 5,963,743. These patents relate to ordering selected equipment over the Internet, but the equipment that is produced is defined entirely by the user selections from pre-existing menus. The user does not upload personal data or digital images that are used to personalize the computers or ether merchandise.
A digital camera system, described in commonly-assigned U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 60/137,078, filed Jun. 2, 1999 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Providing a User Customizable Digital Cameraxe2x80x9d, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, includes the ability to download, from the Internet, special software components that can be used to xe2x80x9cupgradexe2x80x9d a camera to provide personalized capabilities, or to personalize a camera in a retail store as the camera is sold.
The ability to customize a camera after purchase using a memory card (for example, by providing a template background into which an image is placed) is described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,264 to Sarbadhikari et al., the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
The ability to provide camera defect data from a camera manufacturing site over a never to an interactive control node which corrects images provided by a digital camera is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,385, to Maurinus et al.
Commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,216 to Arnold, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, describes a single use camera having pre-exposed latent images of symbols that are combined with captured images.
On a web page found at http://www.bestcameras.com/ a user can order single-use cameras in a variety of cover designs. The user can call a phone number posted at the web site and have a template mailed to the user in Adobe Illustrator format. The user can modify the design in the template and mail back the file, where it can be printed and attached to the outside case of a single use camera. The user can also order single use cameras on-line. The user can choose between several printed paper cover style options, and can personalize the cover with a text message imprinted using the color of text that he or she selects.
The camera company (http://www.thecamera.co.uk) enables a user to order customized single use cameras. The customer mails the company logo, photographs, or other literature to the company, which designs a camera for the customer, having a customized printed paper cover for a group of cameras.
It is an object of the present invention to configure and purchase photographic film products, such as photographic film or one-time use cameras, over a network such as the Internet.
It is a further object of the invention to configure photographic film products using selected programs which are selected over a network.
These objects are achieved by a method for configuring a photographic film product and purchasing such configured photographic film product, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing an eletctronic database of information describing at least one photographic film product that can be configured by a purchaser via a digital communications network;
(b) displaying at the purchaser""s location remote from the electronic database information describing instructions to enable the purchaser to configure the at least one photographic film product;
(c) the purchaser uploading at least one digital image from the purchaser""s location remote from the electronic database;
(d) the purchaser providing a payment identifier specifying an account to be debited to pay for the configured photographic film product;
(e) configuring the photographic film product to include the uploaded digital image; and
(f) sending the configured photographic film product to a designee of the purchaser.
It is an advantage of the present invention for a purchaser to use an electronic network to configure and pay for a photographic film product.
It is an another advantage of the present invention that the functionality of different features can be viewed by a purchaser and readily configured into a photographic film product using an electronic network.
It is a further advantage of the present invention for a purchaser to use an electronic network to pay for services at the same time as payment is made for the corresponding configured photographic film product.